Bottle-cork fastener



(No Model.) J. WALKER.

BOTTLE OORK FASTENER.

Patented Nqv. 29,1881.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIQE.

JAMES WALKER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

BOTTLE-CORK FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,310, dated November 29, 1881.

Application filed March 26, 1881. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES WALKER, ofOincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Bottle-Cork Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates toa device for securely locking or fastening corks within the necks of bottles, and is especially designed for sucn bottles as contain beer or like effervescent or fermentative liquors. The cheapness, easy application, and ready renewal of wire have caused its almost universal adoption in one form or anotherforretention in their places of the corks employed to close bottles containing beer and other efiervescent and fermentative liquors. A serious objection, however, to the use of wire has arisen from its tendency to cut or sink into the substance of the cork, so as to permit the latter, after havingreceived its set within the usual flaring neck, to be thrust outward by the expansive activities of the imprisoned gases, and by thus becoming loose within the neck to permit atmospheric access with the consequent flattening of the conten s. Hence it is found that much beer intended for distant consumption is put in condition for spoiling by the very agencies designed for its preservationsuch, for example, as the process of steaming employed to set back the processes of fermentation after corking, the considerable momentary excess of pressure incident to steamin goperatin g to start the cork, and thus to originate leakage, in the manner above explained. Y

I overcome the above objections to the use of wire for the purpose stated by the interposition between the wire and the cork of a cap or saddle of the form hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents, in perspective, the upper part ofa bottle Whose cork has been secured by my lock or fastening. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view, and Fig. 4 a vertical section of one of my caps or saddles. Fig. 5 is a top view, representing a modification of my said cap or saddle.

A may represent the upper portion of an ordinary beer or ale bottle; B, a cork therein.

D represents my cap or saddle, which, having been applied to the head of the cork, re-

ceives and supports the represented customary or any suitable wire fastening, 0. My said cap or saddle may be of any sufficiently rigid and durable material, butis preferably stamped out of common tin-coated sheet-iron, known in the trade as tin-plate. My preferred form of saddle is represented in Figs. 1,2,3,and 4, and consists of a square plate whose corners are bent downward so as to constitute spurs d, which, being pressed into the head of the cork, serve to retain the saddle to its proper central place thereon, and which also operate to oppose any injurious spreading of the cork.

The middle portion of the plate is stamped into the represented upwardly convex orcrowning form or dome d, and on this dome are formed two or moreteats, bosses, or protuberances, d d, which are preferably so stamped as to present the represented square shoulders f 3 The convexity thus toward the binding-wire. imparted to the plate enables it to sustain the pressure of the wire, while its corresponding concavity beneath operates to enact with the spurs d in resisting any spreading tendencies of the cork. The flat portion of the plate outside of the dome prevents deep sinking of the saddle into the cork, while its square margin, besides facilitating formation of thespurs (1, presents midway between the spurs narrower portions, that expose sufticient of the cork surface to alford a convenient retaining-cushion for holding the wire against lateral displacement.

The protuberances d d obviously prevent any lateral shifting or disturbance of the binding-wire relatively to the cap, while the spurs d, as already explained, prevent any lateral shifting of the cap itself relatively to the cork itself.

While preferring tinned sheet-iron for most purposes of my invention, it is, nevertheless, manifest that my saddle may be composed of on dinary sheet-iron or of cast-iron having an electroplated, japanned, enameled, or other finish; or such saddles may be composed of glass, porcelain, or other suitable material.

The protuberanccs may be of an y desired number-as, for example, three protuberances, as shown at d d d Fig. 5, may be used in association with that number of binding-wires.

Such saddles may obviously be utilized for impression thereon of the name or trade-mark of the brewer, or for designation of the contents.

This device entirely does away with the care 5 and labor required in ordinary wiring, to arrange the wire across the grain of the corka precaution very often neglected.

I claim as new and of my invention- The cap or saddle D formed out of a square IO plate and having the (lownturned spurs d, the

central dome, d, and the teats or protuberances d 01', substantially as and for the purpose designat-ed.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

JAMES WALKER.

Attest:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, P. KNIGHT. 

